<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">At the time of the Jason Kidd trade five years ago, most observers thought Kidd's well-publicized domestic assault case was the reason for his departure. But in a look back at Kidd's years with the Suns, and that decision, Mike Tulumello writes it wasn't just that. The Suns, he says, wanted a more emotional player, a younger player, and that player was Stephon Marbury.</div> Source <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">On top of this, Marbury was three years younger than Kidd. Thus, the thinking went, if the Suns were going to pay a maximum contract to a marquee player, they would be better off shelling out the big money to somebody in his prime playing years. Also, the low-key Kidd never bonded closely with fans. Perhaps the more emotional Marbury would give them a boost here too, the Suns thought. </div> And we all remember how that turned out.
Yea, Marbury for Kidd was not a good move, the only good thing was that he managed to move Marbury and land Nash for less than what Kidd would have cost. Kidd got a 103.6 million over 6 years, so an average of 17.3 mill. For Nash, 63 mill over 6 years, which is 10.5 mill per year.
One thing to remember though, is that it wasn't considered as ridiculously one-sided then as it is now. Of course it was still a bad trade, and Kidd played amazing after he joined the Nets. But, Marbury played pretty well with the Suns too. I remember people having no idea why Colangelo decided to eventually trade Marbury away and it wasn't until his first two years with the Knicks that people realized how bad a player he was.